It is a beautiful afternoon in Tokyo. The temperature is 45F and there are no clouds to block one from seeing the mixture of orange and blue gray the sky becomes for the sunset. In rare fashion, cars pass freely through the streets, as the place where most of the fighters are staying comes near, the buildings are getting smaller.

The hotel – whose name the organization asked us to keep secret, in order to avoid protect the athletes - is short and wide and looks more like it is out of a European capital, its dark gray imposing presence contrasting with the trees of the hill where it is located.

So far, the hotel location iss the only clear difference in Dream Stage Entertainment's first show after president Mr. Morishita's death: the Tokyo Hilton had become one of the trade marks of the show, is not more
used anymore. This time, only the heavyweight champion Rodrigo Minotauro, his brother Rogerio and the Brazilian Top Team crew, asked the organization to keep them in the old neighborhood.

In the rules meeting that happened early today, DSE vice-president Mr.
Sakakibara said they are putting together a partnership that will allow them to make many shows in the US. He also stated that this will be especially good for the foreigner fighters, as the tickets expenses will be much cheaper, and so they will have more chances to participate. He said also that despite what was unofficially told before, DSE will keep running Pride. Mr. Sakakibara was firmly clapped for the audience.

Fighter’s notes:

- One of the highlights of the meeting happened when Kazushi Sakuraba,
who will fight Nino Schembri in one of the fights of the program, brought laughs to the audience when he asked his opponent to avoid hitting him in the face.

- Akira Shoji, who faces American Alex Steibling in one of the fight’s card, seems to be in very good shape, looking skinny and healthy. Besides that, he showed his English improvement when Brazilian anchor Jorge Guimaraes asked him for a message to the Brazilian people. Word is he has been in Seattle, training at AMC Pankration with Matt Hume.

- The Japanese fans, who were the main reason for the fight between Kevin
Randleman and Quinton Jackson, so the fans are waiting for a big show and they are likely to have one. Due to some rumors spread about his chances on the internet, Randleman was enraged and promised to smashed “Rampage” on Sunday. Both fighters will check their weight officially tomorrow.

- Who was walking around and training heavy in the hotel was the big monster
Bob Sapp, who does not fight on this program but will be surely attending
the show, as he is currently one of the biggest attractions of the
organization.

- With his typical big smile on face, Anderson Silva checked the weight
unofficially and after he proving to be two kilos lighter than Carlos Newton his master Rudimar Fedrigo told the organization that there is no necessity of this kind of formality. “The Chute Boxe guys never care about weight difference,” he told.

- Few hours after arriving in Japan, Renzo Gracie trained with Nino and
taught him many things about Sakuraba’s game. Very confident and using his
usual skills “Elvis” repeated the positions and promised to the master he
will use them at the right time.